At the Races: Chambersburg Half Marathon

If you are from a larger metropolitan area, you probably have a wide range of races to choose from throughout the year within a reasonable distance from home. In smaller towns and more rural areas of the country though, their local race is probably The Event of the season. Deep in the Cumberland Valley in the hills of south-central Pennsylvania, where the old wagon trail that is now I-81 meets the first transcontinental highway, the Lincoln Highway or US Rt. 30 lies the small city of Chambersburg.

The Bob Eyer Chambersburg Half Marathon has been a staple early spring event for the community for the last 28 years. Through a string of events and changes over the last 28 years, the race has shaped and been shaped by the community of which it is a part. It has grown from a handful of participants to several hundred strong and proceeds support the local high school runners by providing a $500 college scholarship to two graduating runners.

The race was started by Marlys Palmer in 1979 on behalf of the local National Organization for Women (NOW) chapter. Marlys organized the race and activities - Jean Stapleton came to town for the race - and she ran the race herself. The Chambersburg road runner's club took it over the next year and turned it into a major local event. Marlys is still active in the running community but does not plan to run it this year.

Five years ago the Chambersburg running community lost a founding member when Bob Eyer, Sr. was hit by a car and killed when he was out on a run. The race is now named after him and run in his honor. His daughter with whom he always participated in the race now helps organize the event.

The race also serves as the RRCA's Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. For the first time, the winners of this championship will recieve the entry fee and a travel stipend for the RRCA National Half-Marathon Championships in Parkersburg, WV in August. Wayne Kretzer, the new race director is determined to stretch all of his available resources as far as he can to benefit the whole community. "Its the responsibility of a regional championship race," he says, "to provide assistance to the qualifying runners for Nationals." The high school scholarships and his desire to double the amount available for the upcoming runners are a sign of this same sort of determination. This sort of generosity is unheard of in larger events that are run for profit or publicity.

The course covers largely rural roads in the rolling central PA countryside. According to Chris Monheim, the Chambersburg High School Cross Country coach, "its always windy and cold." He continues on to recount frozen beards and fierce winds and also a well-supplied food spread afterwards. "People come back for the challenge," he says. The men's course record is 1:08:12 set in 2001 by Olympian Steve Spence. The women's course record is 1:22:40 run in 2005 by Susan Graham-Gray.

This year's race will start at 9:30am on Saturday, March 17th at the Chambersburg Area Middle School. Download an application here: http://www.chambersburgrrc.org/

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